~Leo~

The explosion seemed to happen in silence for an instant, like watching a flower bloom in fast motion. I saw Fiona's back arch and flex, saw her wings get ripped backwards, saw shreds of flesh fly. Then the shockwave hit us.

It came at us in a wave of broken glass as it took out every window in the nearby skyscrapers. The falling shards almost looked like drops of water, sparkling in the fiery cacophony behind them.

The first roar of sound reached us.

What remained of the glass ceiling that hadn't already been destroyed by Fiona leaping through it exploded inward, blasting down and shattering against the floor and walls. We all ducked and covered our faces. I yelped as a piece sliced a small gash on my hip, and heard an angry curse off to my left, where Kerata was situated.

Heat scorched my back as I was pelted with falling rubble. As the fall of debris dwindled, I peeked upward, squinting, just in time to see the massive sinuous length of the white dragon crash down through the remaining steel beams crisscrossing the roof, crushing the clock beneath her as she landed limply on her side, one wing bent awkwardly out behind her across the floor. The heavy length of her tail smashed several of the pew-like benches into splinters, while her head and neck thudded to the cold stone, a bit of liquid fire trailing from the corner of her open jaws. Her eyes were closed.

For a few seconds, rubble continued to rain down around us, chunks from the adjacent buildings tumbling and bouncing across the now-cratered pink marble of the floor. Then, as I was still blinking dust from my eyes, I saw Dane sprinting across the shattered tiles to reach Fiona's head, skidding to a halt on his knees, hands hovering over her face briefly before gently beginning to stroke her eye ridges. Her shell-like scales were dull with dust and soot, her wing membranes almost completely gone. There was no movement.

Slowly, I padded around to her front side, horror overtaking me as I gazed at the ruin where her chest had been. A massive hole opened the front of her ribcage, the insides like charred meat. Both her forelegs were almost gone. The entire underside of her body was black with char and ash. The scales were gone from her neck, her jaw seared to the bone. I choked and staggered back, any hope that she was still alive leaving me.

Everything seemed to blur around me, from the sounds of my companions' screams to the scent of fire and blood. I closed my golden eyes and.... prayed.

Fiona...... Fiona, wake up..... if you're still in there, you need to change back! You HAVE to change back! We need you. You're our leader..... what will your friends - no, your family - do if you're gone? Please....

A shift in the earth woke me from my trance, and my eyes shot open, staring back at my reflection in a much larger pair of jewel-green orbs, staring straight at me, before light consumed the massive serpent that lay sprawled on the floor. For a moment, it flickered feebly, as if threatening to dissipate back into the ground, but then it strengthened. I flinched as a huge, wavering scream, almost higher-pitched than I could hear, emitted from the rippling - and steadily shrinking - wall of liquid rays.

I saw the others, then, standing a little way apart. They were all in human form, with Duncan and Kera standing shoulder to shoulder, and Dane looking like he was ready to rush in to Fiona's side again at the first chance. Raven had tear tracks down each cheek, but hope shone from her eyes as the light in the center of the room gave one final flare and vanished, leaving a nude and apparently unconscious human girl lying beside the ruins of the old clock.

Dane bolted forward again, having to cover twice the distance despite only having taken a few steps back. Fiona looked tiny now, among the dust and debris and broken glass. I padded forward, leaving huge pawprints in the ash as I came to a stop next to Raven, keeping a respectful distance and averting my eyes until Dane threw his hoodie over the dragon girl's pale figure.

He scooped her up gently, resting her head against his chest as he cradled her limp form. My ears flicked as I heard him murmuring into her hair, which was so caked with ash it looked white. The hoodie slipped a little, and I saw the edge of a large, angry red scar, centered just below her collarbone. Shaped like a jagged star, it's 'rays' spread from shoulder to shoulder, and reached up to her neck. I had no idea how far down it went, and I supposed that that was not something for me to know anyway.

Suddenly, she gave a shudder, and opened her eyes, locking them onto Dane's for a long moment. She smiled weakly. "I'm still alive....." Her eyes wandered to mine, "thanks to him."

I blinked. "Me?"

She nodded slightly, then winced. "Yes.... I heard you.... I thought I was dead but I heard you. In my head."

I flicked my tail, kicking up dust. "What do you mean? I didn't say anything!" Raven was looking at me with an odd expression.

"'We need you.... you're our leader..... what will your family do, if you're gone?'" The words were faint, but her green eyes were steady. "I heard what you said. Thought. I think you were speaking telepathically."

I shook my mane. "First I learn that I can become invisible, now somehow I can speak to your mind?"

"Not just hers." Raven put a hand on my mane, gently, "You should be able to thought-speak to anyone here."

I concentrated. So you can hear me like this?

Her eyes widened, and she jerked her hand back in surprise. In the back of my mind, I felt disappointed. Her hand had felt.... soothing. Most of my thoughts were focused on the fact that I no longer had to speak out loud. Wow, this is great! I don't have to wait for my thoughts to translate through speech in order to get them out!

Everyone jumped, then, and I realized that I had 'spoken' to them all at once.

"Wow..." Kera ran a hand through her blonde hair. "That's really cool.... what I wouldn't give to have that kind of gift." Duncan remained silent, watching the scene unfold, his eerie acid-blue eyes on me.

The fur on my back prickled as I suddenly realized that I was the only one in the room who was not in human form yet. Liquid-golden light, like sun rays, burst from the fractured floor around me as I quickly changed back to human, wearing dark pants and a hoodie, my hands already in my pockets and my hood up. I felt a bit self-conscious.

"So.... we should probably get Fiona back to the tower." To my relief, it was Raven that suggested it. Immediately, everyone scrambled into action. Those who could fly changed back into their creature forms, including Fiona, who, now the size of a cat, immediately curled up in Dane's arms and fell asleep. He wrapped her in his hoodie, then carefully passed her to Duncan in the makeshift sling. He took off through the gaping hole in the roof, followed by Raven, while Kera, Duncan and I resolved to take the long way, and use the elevator. We had all been given special access keys, which allowed us entry to our floors. Always best to have multiple ways in and out of the base - as long as we didn't manage to lose our 'room keys'.

I watched the flying figures disappear up toward the top of the tower, before sighing and shuffling after the other two. I felt like I could sleep for a month.